Compact cameras have arrived at That Stage

25/1/08 The Guardian

Extract from ;

Compact cameras have arrived at That Stage

Column “Dork Talk” published on Saturday January 26th 2008 in The Guardian
“Compact cameras have arrived at That Stage - The Guardian headline

"I am in the jungle, filming in the heart of Amazonia. Not much room in my backpack for mobile phones, game consoles or laptops but just enough for a pair of compact cameras with which to attempt to capture the nuanced colourations of the red howler monkey, the pink river dolphin, the scarlet mosquito bite and the purple leech gash. I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-T200 and a Casio EX-S880, two cameras crammed to point of madness with the latest innovations in digital photography."

this article by Stephen Fry goes on to talk about 'face recognition' and 'smile capture' plus other uncessary functions trying to tease and lure you to buy a new digital camera when in fact, your current one is probably still just fine- all a desperate attempt to be one step ahead;
this absurdity also written about here;

Say Cheese: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T200 camera waits for your smile before it snaps you

the idea of overloaded and unecessary fuctions fascinates me, maybe even making switches and buttons on technology that really do not actually have a function but just look pretty-kid in a sweet shop. [also i am amused by the fact that although my archos 605 isnt as sexy it outperforms the ipod touch hahahahahaha dominic!!;

The touch alternative: The only player capable of beating the iPod touch at the moment is the Archos 605 WiFi. With capacities up to 160GB, a massive touch-sensitive screen, full Web browsing via Wi-Fi, excellent sound quality and support for DVD-quality video, the 605 is an absolute killer gadget. The touch may score top marks for elegance, but with 10-times the capacity and a larger screen, Archos owns the only potential 'touch killer'.]

in looking to the fondness i have for my holga, pentax K1000, pinhole polaroid,what i love is their non gimmicky honesty and lack of pretensiousness. you use them to take pictures! - what they say on the tin, no thick manual required.the inventiveness i can bring to them, offered by their simplicity is great, however subversively i am also slightly attracted to the alluringness offered by meaningless fuctions in high end gadgets too..hmmmmmm lets look back at my archos for one and see what it can do that appears 'useless' and also its not supposed to do- uploading to youtube.....